The National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA), Dallas, issued an interesting press release Dec. 18 related to the hot-button issue of head impacts in football. The release stated:
''Head impacts in football players are directly associated with brain and spine injury and have been suggested to be associated with chronic injuries, making this ...

A few weeks before the end of fall semester, one of our professors came and spoke to the class about the value of obtaining certifications during school. He cited reasons such as better job opportunities, better chances at residencies and just as a way to set yourself apart overall. Since we just completed exercise physiology, I've decided to ...

One of my classes this semester is titled ''Integumentary.'' The course covers a variety of topics related to the skin but is centered largely on wound care. In the first two days of the course we've learned dozens of dermatological terms, staging for different types of ulcers, wound and burn classifications and more. We've also seen a ton of ...

Just over a week ago, I had my first experience with an incident report. All in all, it wasn't a big deal. A patient of mine with T11 paraplegia was attempting to stand from his wheelchair to complete a 10-meter walk test. As it turns out, his brakes (even when engaged) barely work. He went to push up from the chair, it started to slide backward, ...

In transferring from inpatient rehab to a local outpatient PT clinic, I have the unique opportunity to see patients throughout their course of recovery. When I arrived to my current clinical site, I recognized at least three patients who had been on either the brain injury or spinal cord injury units when I was completing my clinical rotations at ...

I just finished my second week at an outpatient clinic where I see a great variety of patients. I'd say it's split 50/50 between orthopedic and neurologic diagnoses. The caseload diversity is going to be a great learning experience. But until I feel up to speed again with my outpatient skills (especially my evaluation skills), I anticipate a few ...

I've dealt a lot with the ''c'' word lately -- cancer. On both a personal and professional level, I've had an up-close look at the effects of the disease on patients, families and healthcare professionals. In the world of PT school, we covered cancer interventions and suggested case management. That being said, I think it can be very difficult to ...

Three different events have come up in the past week that make me wonder about the world of ''light duty'' and injuries. If you're reading this, I'm assuming you have some career connection to physical therapy and therefore realize that ours are not the type of jobs where you can work through injuries -- sometimes even minor ones.
For example, a ...

Working on the spinal cord injury unit, I often find myself treating patients whose functional recovery we can't predict. As I've taken the lead on more of these cases, one of the most significant challenges I face is finding a balance between providing encouragement and giving people false hopes about their progress and recovery. Anyone in any ...

Having the opportunity to spend three months at one clinical site has meant that I've seen a lot of my patients through their entire course of inpatient rehab care. And as I've taken on more of my own caseload, I've been their primary PT. By chance, there has been a lot of turnover during my time on the spinal cord injury unit, so I've seen even ...